


Seeing Is Believing

by Shasalin



Series: Sights Unseen [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Epilogue, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Reunions, Slice of Life, Youkai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 06:38:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11708892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shasalin/pseuds/Shasalin
Summary: Follow-up to the end of Sights Unseen.





	Seeing Is Believing

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write this after finishing my work Sights Unseen, as a thank you to everyone who read it. I thought I'd like to share this little addition of nothing but fluff. :)
> 
> As this is an epilogue, the main work should be read first.

Noctis could feel the morning sun against his closed eyelids and the nudging produced by hands on his arms. “Time to get up, Noct,” hearing that voice wake him up instead of an alarm made Noct’s chest ache pleasantly. Eyes still shut, he reached for Prompto’s hands and indulged in the feel of the other’s skin under his. Prompto made no move, so Noctis slowly opened his eyes to look up at the face smiling down at him.

He swore birds started to sing the moment he did.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” the blonde greeted affectionately, curling his fingers in a closer grip around Noct’s shoulders.

“Were you always this beautiful?” Noctis said the first thing on his mind.

Prompto didn’t ever know what to do when Noctis turned into a sap, so he did what he could. The youkai started to shake Noct a little more vigorously and whined, “Why are you always like this?”

Noctis chuckled lightly and reached out to pull Prompto closer by his middle. One knee was on the bed, and then the other; Noct didn’t stop moving until he had the blonde trapped beneath his weight. “C’mon, Prom,” he said with his cheek pressed into the indigo yukata that made that morning possible. “We’ve gotta make up for lost time.”

“Not today, we can’t, or did you forget inviting everyone over so I could meet them face to face?”

Noctis huffed, “Let’s just put it off till tomorrow. I wanna keep you for myself today.”

“You’ve had me to yourself for ten years,” Prompto breathed a laugh, running his fingers through Noct’s hair, which only served to make him fall asleep again. “I think you can spare one day.”

Noct didn’t say any more until the blonde stopped with his ministrations. He rolled back over to free Prompto and sat up when his hands were tugged on. His motivation to get to his feet was to hug the youkai in front of him; they both tucked their heads into the other’s neck and savored the closeness.

It hadn’t yet been twenty-four hours since Prompto put on the yukata, and Noctis found himself distraught at the idea of taking his eyes off him, even for the short length of a shower. He entered the front room after changing into fresh clothes to find Prompto straightening up the room in anticipation of their guests. “Excited?” Noct asked with a grin.

The blonde pressed his hands to the sides of his face, “Nervous, too. I _know_ they’re already my friends, but… what if they’re disappointed in what they see, y’know?”

Noctis tilted Prompto’s chin and waited until their eyes met to speak, “Prom, there is nothing about you that will disappoint them. Making you visible to everybody wasn’t just to help me—it was for you, too. They got excited to see the drawing I made of you—now imagine how they’re feeling at being able to see you for real.”

Prompto lowered his gaze, and his expression melted into one of warmth, “Thanks, Noct. I really am looking forward to this.”

There was a knock at the door right after that, and the pair shared a look before Noctis took Prompto by the hand and went to answer it. The blonde tightened the hold on Noct’s hand as his lover reached out and opened the door to reveal the first of his friends that he would get to greet.

Noct felt like it was meant to be when it was Nyx and Luna on the other side, and he could tell from one look at Prompto’s face that he felt the same. The two blondes instantly locked onto each other, their partners standing back to let the old friends have the reunion that was long overdue.

Prompto was the first to open up, saying with a bashful smile, “Long time, no see, Luna.”

On her part, Lunafreya appeared awestruck. Her lips parted, a hitch of breath the only indication that she was going to say something, but she let the breath out instead. Lips now pressed together, Noctis could see the tears brimming her eyes from where he stood behind Prompto. She tried again, this time getting out, “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry—but it’s just so good to see you, Prompto.”

They both reached out to hug the other simultaneously as Noctis and Nyx grinned at each other over the display. Luna pulled back to get another look at the youkai, and she gave him a smile too sad for the occasion, “I’m sorry I never came back to visit you. I was afraid that if you knew I couldn’t see you, it would make you feel alone, but leaving you like that… It must not have been any better.”

Noctis could see Prompto’s composure giving way as he shook his head, “I would never ask for anything to go differently. If you had come back, I would have given back your handkerchief, and if I didn’t have it to then lose it when I did…” Prompto looked over his shoulder to admire Noct, who felt a distinct skip in his heartbeat at the regard, “you never would have talked to me.”

And didn’t that thought shake Noctis down to his core. If there was one thing that he had learned since moving back to this town, it was that life was better with Prompto; he didn’t want to think about anywhere else he might have ended up otherwise. This day was not for that.

He rested a hand on the nape of his blonde’s neck and invited the other couple into the house. Once the door was closed, Prompto turned his attention to Nyx and held out a hand for him to take, “I’m so glad I can finally talk to you myself, Nyx. Luna’s told me about how you two met—I love that it was youkai that brought you two together! E-Even if it wasn’t the best of circumstances.”

Nyx took the proffered hand and nodded, “I wish I could say it was love at first sight, but even though I thought she was cute, when she started talking about how she trapped a youkai, I thought she was crazy.” He grinned at his wife who rolled her eyes playfully. “But a few days after she got rid of it, and I wasn’t incredibly irritated at everything, I listened to what she had to say. You know, when Luna was telling me about friendly youkai to change my opinion of them, you were the first one she spoke of.”

Prompto lit up, darting his gaze to Luna, “Really?”

The woman hummed, “It’s true, even before Umbra and Pryna.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” the youkai focused on Nyx, “Pryna tells me that you always push her to the very end of the bed when you sleep. I kept telling Noct to tell you, but he never did.”

Noctis moved the hand from Prompto’s neck to his opposite shoulder, while his other hand rubbed his own forehead, “That’s because I told you, how is Nyx supposed to be mindful of a dog he can’t see—while he’s asleep?”

“Just because you can’t see us doesn’t mean we’re not there,” Prompto bemoaned before he leaned into Noct’s side, looking up at him. Half-jokingly, the youkai added, “Are you gonna tell me now that you were just waiting those six weeks for the right opportunity to kick me out of the bed, too?”

Noct closed his other arm around the blonde, encouraging him to bury his head into his chest so that Noct could send an apologetic look over to Nyx. The Ulrics only stood there, looking fairly entertained.

“I’ll apologize to her tonight and try not to do it anymore,” Nyx pledged, and it seemed to placate Prompto.

The four of them moved to sit in the living room when there came another knock. Prompto bounded over to be the one to answer, and Noct watched as Ignis and Gladio came into view. He couldn’t resist replicating the heartfelt expressions that came over their features once they saw the youkai in front of them. “Didn’t know you were so scrawny,” Gladio ribbed.

“What are you talking about?” Prompto tilted his head to the side. “I’m the same size as Noct.”

“My point exactly.” Noctis hung his head and sighed—he saw that one coming. Gladio went on, “Iggy brought the food; I brought the booze.”

Prompto stuck close to Ignis as he set down two different pies and began to take them out of their containers to serve. “How do you make something so simple look so refined?” the blonde fawned over Ignis’ handiwork.

“It’s not as difficult as you might think. If you’d like, I could show you a few tricks sometime.”

“You would? That’d be awesome!”

Noctis brought out the plates and everyone helped themselves to food and drink. Ignis noticed Prompto stepping back, and he handed a plate out to him. “Pardon my asking, but do youkai eat?”

“Oh, I can; I’ve taken a few bites of Noctis’ food before, just for a taste, but I don’t take more than that. Don’t feel like I should—since I don’t need it to live like you guys do.”

“Feel free to help yourself,” Ignis extended his hand more until Prompto took the plate into his own. “We’re here today for you, after all.”

Noctis noticed Prompto retreat into himself for a moment after that, and as he was about to pull him back out, Gladio beat him to it. He nudged him strongly enough to make the blonde stumble a step to the side, “Think you can beat me in King’s Knight now that you can’t look over my shoulder?”

Prompto huffed at the insinuation, “I never cheated off of you ‘cause I don’t need to! I’ll prove it right now.” He helped himself to Noct’s pocket to retrieve his phone and settled onto the couch. Gladio joined him on the other end and they loaded up the game app together.

Noctis sat between the two and watched the match from both sides. Ignis, Luna, and Nyx watched from behind the couch. He couldn’t keep the sheer delight from showing on his face as he thought of how this was exactly as it had always been, except now Ignis was able to make comments like, “Effective strategy, Prompto.”

Gladio complained, “Iggy, why are you advising the enemy?”

“I wasn’t advising, merely observing.”

Prompto won a narrow victory, and without much consideration for their surroundings, Noctis rewarded him with a chaste kiss. Noct felt a couple of jabs on his back that got him to look behind him, and there was Nyx and Luna with identical smirks on their faces. He fought a losing battle with a blush and waved the husband and wife off with his hand as if the motion could dispel the looks that silently told him, _“We knew the two of you would happen even before you knew.”_

Noctis and Prompto moved to the armchair that sat to the side to let Nyx and Luna have their place, while Ignis perched himself on the arm rest and leaned against Gladio’s solid frame. They ate and drank and talked on end until it was time for seconds.

The youkai was proving himself a lightweight when after one beer, his laugh became more boisterous and his freckles were framed nicely by a semi-permanent blush. Noctis held Prompto close as the blonde hid his face in Noct’s neck while coming down from a laughing fit. The rest had temporarily moved to the kitchen to restock as Prompto recovered with a deep breath and asked Noctis, “Did you say Cor was coming, too?”

“Yeah, he said he had some things to do today that he already had planned—I kinda did spring this on everyone last minute, but he promised he’d swing by.”

Nyx and Luna rejoined the living room as Prompto stood to get another drink for Noct. He had just crossed the floor when a knock sounded at the door. The youkai spun on his heels to look at Noctis, like he needed confirmation that he wasn’t just hearing things. Noctis offered to get it, and he grinned at his guardian, “Hey, Cor. Thanks for coming over.”

“Didn’t know everyone would be here,” Cor commented, waving and nodding at everyone in acknowledgement. Noctis waited until the moment he could see his gaze stick to Prompto.

“Uh, this is why I asked for you to visit,” Noctis said and waved the blonde closer. Prompto shuffled to Noct’s side while not taking his focus away from Cor. “This is Prompto. You’ve met him before.”

Cor extended his hand in greeting, but his brow furrowed, “My memory must be going, because I don’t recall ever meeting you, Prompto.”

Noctis stood back and let Prompto take over the introduction. Prompto hastily returned the handshake while forming his next words, “Oh, uh, it’s kind of hard to explain. You see…” He had quickly gone out of his depths—everyone in the house could see that, and it was Noct that he turned to with pleading eyes to take the introduction back into his hands.

“So, when you told me to look through the attic for things pertaining to youkai,” Noct continued, “you were helping me find a way to make this one visible without the ability I used to have.”

Cor did not look any less confused than when he first walked into the house. His attention turned back onto the blonde, and he nodded to him, “This one’s a youkai?”

“N-Not just any youkai,” Prompto piped up. “The bird you found dying… that was me.” That got a reaction out of the older man, brows now raised. “I asked Noctis to let me talk about it with you—when he brought it up a second time, he was telling you what I said.”

“You don’t say… Were you the youkai I always heard Noctis talking to in another room?” Prompto smiled shyly and nodded. Cor leered at Noctis, and the latter got the feeling that he should be bracing for impact. “So, Noct… would you like to inform me just how long you were hiding a boy from me in my own house?”

Noctis was stricken into silence, sliding his eyes away from Cor’s, yet he could still feel the intensity of his guardian’s stare. “Uh, I—”

“Now he’s gonna get it,” Gladio snickered from the kitchen.

Prompto pressed himself next to Noctis as he answered in his place, “I wasn’t hiding; I was always at his side.”

Cor ran a tired hand over the top of his head, “Gotta hand it to you, Noct. I never guessed that the youkai you were always talking to looked human.” Noctis watched as Cor took in the sight of his standing close with his familiar. “You certainly had it easier than the rest of us ever did as teens.”

Noctis was starting to feel the spotlight that had taken up residence over his head, and he desperately wanted to get away from the weight it put on him, but Prompto questioned before he could change the subject, “What does he mean, you had it easier?”

“Oh, Noct,” Ignis shook his head in dismay, “you had him living with you, and you never told him that it was unorthodox—or even a little scandalous?”

Prompto let out a small gasp, bringing a hand up to his mouth; Noctis would have thought it was cute if it his dramatics were under different circumstances. “ _Scandalous?_ Noct, were we doing something wrong?”

“No, of course not!” Noctis brushed off the quiet, bemused laughter radiating from everyone else. “Ignis doesn’t know what he’s talking about _and seems to forget_ all the times he had Gladio over when his parents were out of town.” He made sure to stare pointedly at Ignis, as though daring him to continue.

Gladio was the one to respond, “Hey, don’t drag us into this mess.”

“Are we forgetting why all of you are here? ‘Cause it sure wasn’t to pick on me,” Noct grumbled, hoping everyone would take the hint. He shifted his gaze back to Prompto, who appeared to be quieting down along with this line of questioning.

“I need a drink,” Cor made known, effectively ending whatever it was that he had begun. Noctis placed his hands on Prompto’s shoulders, rubbing small circles to soothe the last of any frayed nerves. The corners of the youkai’s mouth ticked upward, and violet-blue eyes brought Noct right in like they always did.

He knew that he was fortunate as a teenager in that aspect—being able to fall asleep with his boyfriend in his arms every night from age sixteen onwards. But it never felt the least bit _scandalous_ or _unorthodox,_ like Ignis was teasing; it only ever felt _right_ to have Prompto with him.

“C’mon, lovebirds,” Gladio called out, “this reunion’s just getting started.”

“Ooh, now that we’re all here—” Prompto mentioned as he ran back to the bedroom and returned with his camera and tripod in hand. “—Is it alright if we take a picture together?”

They arranged themselves on or around the couch, Noct with one arm around Prompto once he set the timer and his other around Cor; the other couples held onto their partners as the camera captured them all together in that moment. The blonde excitedly went to see how it turned out, but Noctis knew it would already be his favorite photo that Prompto had taken before he even had the chance to see it.

They all stayed together for another hour before Nyx and Luna said it was time they head out. “We should save Ravus before his nieces wear him out,” Luna said as they headed to the door with Prompto.

“I can’t wait to meet the three of them, too,” the youkai mused with a smile of his own.

“They’re looking forward to it, too,” Nyx affirmed, tossing an arm around Prompto’s neck. “After hearing all of Luna’s stories, the girls have been wishing to meet a youkai.”

Luna squeezed Prompto into a hug and told him, “It was so good to see you again, and hear your voice—and I didn’t know how much I had really missed you.”

Prompto breathed a laugh, “We’ll see each other again this time.”

“We certainly will.”

Noctis had watched the exchange from the kitchen, where Ignis was putting away the leftovers in the fridge. “I suppose Gladio and I will take our leave as well. Thank you for having us over, Noctis.”

“My pleasure,” Noct brought a hand up to pat Ignis on the back. “Thanks for bringing the food and drinks.”

“No problem,” Gladio said on Noct’s other side. “It was nice, being together like this.”

Prompto had come up behind Noctis and wrapped his arms around his middle, “It really was; I bet it was nice that you didn’t have to repeat everything I said this time, huh, Noct?”

“It was nice for a lot more reasons than just that.”

“Prompto,” Ignis addressed on his way to the door, “I’ll be in touch about those cooking lessons, if you’re still interested.”

“Sure thing, Iggy!”

The blonde ambled after them to see them out; Noctis went to follow but was held back by Cor. He figured he should have known that Cor wouldn’t have let him go without a better explanation. “About earlier…” Noct started, only to have the other shake his head.

“I was just messing with you, kid. I know you had your reasons for keeping it all secret.” Cor watched as Prompto brought Ignis, followed by Gladio, into an embrace. “But before that, did you say I helped you find a way to make him visible?” Noctis gave a solitary nod. “ _And_ he’s the spirit of that bird I found fallen from its nest?”

Noct gave a half-smile, “Because you were there, and kept coming back, he was able to become who is today. I meant it when I told you that you were right to say that bird and I were the same.”

Noctis could see a glint in Cor’s eyes, “Never would’ve guessed it’d work out like this.”

Prompto made his way over to them once the second pair had left. With both Noct and Cor looking at him fondly, the blonde seemed to shrink from their fixation. Noctis was sure he knew that he was the topic of their conversation, which was why Prompto tried to throw it off by saying, “Gladio’s challenged me to a rematch—can’t wait to crush him again.”

Noctis pulled him closer and pressed his lips to the top of his head, “I’m so glad I have you here to improve my King’s Knight account.”

Prompto laughed and shoved him playfully as Cor took in their back and forth. “Prompto,” he spoke up, and it had both of younger men listening. “Before today, I thought I knew everybody that I had to thank for giving Noctis a place to belong here. I’m sorry for only just now getting around to thanking you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—” the youkai fretted before clearing his throat. “Noctis has done even more for me in return. Just… being here, spending this time with everyone, is more than enough.”

Cor gave a small smile and reached a hand out for a shoulder from each of them; Noct placed his hand over Cor’s to wordlessly give his own thanks. “The next time you’re over for dinner, I’ll be sure to set the right number of plates.”

Cor took his leave not long after the others had left, and with the house empty once more, the couple retreated to their room for a well-earned midday nap. Noctis had fallen asleep with his nose buried in his lover’s hair and Prompto’s head resting on his chest, one arm tossed around Noct’s waist to weave their fingers together in a loose hold.

Upon waking a few hours later, Noctis found the blonde missing from their bed. From the all-too-recent experience, he couldn’t help but get a little anxious, but he told himself to keep it down as he searched the house only to find it empty. With a deep breath, he made his way out to the front and then around the side, and let out a sigh in relief when he saw the youkai standing at the base of the tree in the backyard.

Noctis went up and encased Prompto in his arms without preamble. The other didn’t stir, didn’t take his eyes off of the branches above. “They hatched,” was all he said. The words had Noct looking up at the bird’s nest that had been built in their tree. He tuned into the chirping of baby birds, and he smiled, knowing that Prompto had been looking forward to this moment since they first spotted the nest. “I hope they all make it,” he added softly.

“They will,” Noctis assured, resting his chin on Prompto’s shoulder, their temples pressed together. “One way or another, they’ll all be okay.”


End file.
